The Penn's Grove record., 1887-11-12

How the Larger Specimens Arc TAX
On - Animals Trained TO Run
Down Anteiopes.

found In books Of travel read rs IL they
belonged more properly to a chapter in
the 'Arabian Nights" than to q trea-
tise OIL natural history, and yet the &C.
counts are mainly true. The animal
itself has become almost familiar. The
London Geological Garden has a very
fine specimen. He is lodged in the lion
house, and is next door neighbor to one
Of the fiercest tigers in the garden.
His habits are not to be judged from
his company. He is a'quiet, attacha-
bic brute, living on terms Of familiarity
with his keeper, under whose caresses
he will purr in o manner understood to
express delight, but to uninltiated ears
sufficiently formidable. Indeed, he is
in many ways a contradiction and a
compromise. There is a great deal of
the dog about him. He is long legged
and hard footed. His claws are strong
and broad, like those of a fox terrier,
and as he jumps about his cage the foot
strikes the ground firmly and not with
the silent velvet pressure of the tiger
or the puma, and yet his head and in-
deed the whole Of bis anatomy shows
him to be a cat. TIE Prince of Wales,
ON his return finn India, brought a
pair of these leor ards with him. They
were very tame. and it was hoped they
would breed in the gardens.
But Londoners were familiar with
the creature long before all wild
animals were lodged in the Regents
Park. At the end of the last century,
when Seringapatam vas stormed,
among the treasures of Tippo Sahib's
palace were three highly trained Loop
ards. These were esteemed of such
value that they were sent to England
and presented to the King, and George
III added them 10 the menagerie at the
Tower. They seem TO thrive in Eng
land, though they do not multiply.
The training of them is not a very COM
plicated process. Nature does most of
it. The natives maintain that for true
sport you must commence your train
ing with the fully grown animals. The
desirable fierceness and fleetness are
only thus to be secured. The natives
have, indeed, the same idea about
hawks.
To English ideas the sport seems
curiously tame and %uneventful. The
leopard is brought out in q bullock cart,
with a kind of mask that covers its
eyes. A chain Is also slipped round its
IONS. 1t is quite tame, knowing its
keeper and anticipating the sport. The
cart drives along, accompanied by the
sportsmen, to a spot which the herd of
antelopes will presently cross in their
course. The does all go first, the black
buck-the pride of the flock-invariably
brings up the reas. The motive is as
cribed to jealousy and a desire to keep
| his females all under his eye. What
vel the motive, the position is fatal to
him. AT the proper moment the hood
is slipped off the cheetah's head, and
his prey is shown him. Unlike the dog,
he seems to hunt by sight, and not by
scent. He looks keenly about him for
one moment, and then drops off the
cart, generally at the off side, using it
| for a cover as long as he can.
If there are trees Or any rising ground
he is quick to take advantage of them,
and then makes his burst upon his
quarry. lie almost invariably chooses
the buck, but he run him down by
sheer t~leetness. This is the meaning of
those dog-like claws and the great
| length of the limb that makes him look
almost out of proportion in the lions
home at the Regent Park, where all the
| other catlike creatures = tigers, leop-
| ards, jauars, pumas and lions - are
short-legged and crouching. The speed
is scarcely to he credited-there is no
English greyhound that can run down
| a doe antelope. But it is sorry sport at
| best-if, indeed, it can be called sport
al all. The cheetah springs on the
back of the buck, strangles it, and laps
| up its blood. The huntsman ONE up,
cuts the throat of the antelope and, let
ting the blood flow into a wooden cup,
| gives it to the cheetah, watching his
| time when the creature is gorged to
| slip the hood over his eyes and lead him
back to the cart.
The natives give their accounts of
the animal more picturesquely and the
native accounts are still to be found in
| the natural history books. In a wild
state the cheetah feeds itself only every
three days, gorging itself on these oc-
casiOns and lying comatoSe during the
intervals. The specimen at the Zoo
logical.G Gardens is pretty active all day
and falls in with the regulation hours
as to food with great docility and oven
with Zest. In their pursuit of prey
| they are social and in that way differ
from most of the other carnivora. Two
or three of them will meet at night and
| 60 forth on their hunting expeditions
! in company. 1t is by ascertaining place
Of tryst that the natives are able to cap
ture them. 1t is very often by the
trunk of a tree, which is found all
scratched and barked by their claws.
/ Moses and meshes are driven into the
ground. The leopards come bounding
over the grass and are soon caught.
| A blanket is flung over the head and
the creature is tied and carried off.
| One of the favorite theories of the ma
tives, which is repeated v and over
again in the books, is that when the
trained leopard misses his stroke he can
not recover his breath quick enough for
a second bound and the herd passes
| from him in safety. Then he gets ex-
tremely agitated, runs up and down
until his temper subsidies, and is at last
carted and again let slip Oh fresh quarry.
1t is a picturesque kind of notion, but
most men who have seen antelope hunt.
ing in the East will be able to qualify
its application. The leopard does not
l 6bOV tilo ShAlS a. SNNithAS ShtNAASY
and, in fact, is making another bound
on his prey before the antelope can get
off or the temper "A rise. MOI is the
popular idea that he must be caught
adult in order to secure the perfection
Of his hunting qualities quite correct.
He is a tamable creature, and, there
fore, even when an adult, can be man
aged, but those who have brought up
cheetah kittens will realize that it needs
no training to make them crafty their
ca%rnivorous ~incllnations. Major Jer-
don had one that followed him about
like a dog, racing after him when he
took his rides. But when it grew up it
showed soon enough that it was natur-
ally given to hunting. Its attacks on
sheep had to be prevented, and several
horsewhippings made it realize that
they were under special protection. a
donkey defended himself successfully
with his heels.
The eheetah was in such matters
quick to take a hint, and had a good